Don't like abortion? Shoot a provider in the head

A Pennsylvania judge granted an injunction Thursday against the man in charge of a threatening antiabortion Web site.

Published November 9, 2007 11:05PM (EST)

The Associated Press reports that District Judge Thomas Golden of Pennsylvania took a stand against a guy named John Dunkle, who was maintaining a Web site with antiabortion messages.

Actually, "messages" is an understatement. Dunkle's site included postings, as the AP put it, that "exhorted readers to kill an abortion provider by shooting her in the head." On Thursday, Judge Golden granted an injunction against Dunkle that requires him to remove the threatening postings and prevents him from posting similar messages -- some of which included names, addresses and photographs of clinic workers -- in the future. (Dunkle wasn't the author of these messages, but he did post them.)

The postings are down now, but they were threatening enough that one former clinician at the Philadelphia Women's Center stopped providing reproductive services because she was worried she might be killed.

Judging from the post quoted by the AP, I wouldn't be surprised if others also quit. "While it does not sound good to say go shoot her between the eyes, it sounds even worse to say let her alone," the post said. It included the provider's name, photo and address.


By Catherine Price

Catherine Price is an award-winning journalist and author of Vitamania: How Vitamins Revolutionized the Way We Think About Food. Her written and multimedia work has appeared in publications including The Best American Science Writing, The New York Times, Popular Science, O: The Oprah Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post Magazine, Salon, Slate, Men’s Journal, Mother Jones, PARADE, Health Magazine, and Outside. Price lives in Philadelphia.

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